Ravel: Complete Piano Music
Robert Casadesus, piano (Sony Masterworks Heritage, two CDs)
Lovers of Ravel’s piano music will be glad to know of the handsomely packaged rerelease of Robert Casadesus’ complete Ravel piano music recordings, digitally remastered from four mono recordings made in the years 1946-1951. Casadesus’ readings were classics of the keyboard, as elegant and authoritative now as they were then. The French pianist’s approach was completely free of sentiment and speaks volumes for a classical approach to this body of works. In “Gaspard de la nuit” Casadesus is brilliant without being flashy, while his handling of color and dynamic nuance in the last movement of “Ma Mere l’Oye,” “Alborada del gracioso” and “Une barque sur l’ocean” bespeaks a master pianist. Sony has filled out the contents of the original LPs with Casadesus’ admirable 1951 recordings of the Left Hand Piano Concerto (Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra assist splendidly) and the “Piece en forme de habanera.” In all, a benchmark set of recordings, and, at midprice, one of the most desirable of Sony’s recent historical reissues.
